San Juan, Nov. 30 (BUS): Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as it relinquished yet another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history.
Several leaders, dignitaries and artists, including Prince Charles and Rihanna, attended the ceremony, which began late Monday in a popular square where a statue of British Lord Nelson was removed last year.
Fireworks spread across the sky at midnight when Barbados officially became a republic, with screens set up across the island so that people could watch the event, which includes an orchestra of more than 100 steel musicians and many singers, poets, and dancers.
It was also broadcast online, resulting in a flurry of sensational messages from Bajans living in the United States, Canada and beyond.
The campaign to become a republic began more than two decades ago and culminated in the island’s parliament electing the island’s first-ever president last month with a two-thirds vote.
Sandra Mason, the governor of Barbados, was sworn in before dawn on Tuesday, as the island celebrates the 55th anniversary of its independence from Britain.
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